The Intersection Of Intellectual Property And Trade: An Analysis Of The Doha Round

• Published date: 19 January 2024
• Subject Matter: Intellectual Property, Food, Drugs, Healthcare, Life Sciences, Patent
• Law Firm: Inventa
• Author: Raquel Teles

The Doha Round represents the latest series of trade negotiations among WTO members, officially launched at the WTO's Fourth Ministerial Conference in Qatar in 2001. Its goal is to substantially reform the global trade system by reducing trade barriers and revising rules across approximately 20 trade-related areas, including intellectual property matters such as rights protection, affordable access to medicines, flexibility within the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement, the promotion of technology transfer, and more.

As the round progressed, it brought to the forefront a complex interplay between intellectual property and global trade, in developed and developing countries. Developed nations advocated for robust intellectual property protections, deeming them essential for fostering innovation and protecting investments. On the opposite side, developing nations emphasized the need for a delicate balance, pointing out the need for flexibility in intellectual property regulations. This tension underscores a challenge in harmonizing global IP standards: finding a consensus that reconciles the priorities and the diverse needs of WTO member countries.

Important advancements and decisions in negotiations related to intellectual property were observed. One notable resolution was The Doha Declaration on the TRIPs Agreement and Public Health in 2001, acknowledging that the affordable access to medicines was the critical issue of developing nations. Intellectual property rights, especially patents, played a defining role in shaping the pharmaceutical landscape. The negotiations aimed to strike the delicate balance between safeguarding innovators' rights and ensuring cost-effective access to life-saving drugs, particularly in regions facing pressing health crises.

Four years later, in 2005, the revision of the TRIPS Agreement was another central moment. This revision sought to solve the inflexibility of the intellectual property rules in allowing the developing nations to adopt measures, such as favored access to essential medicines, and to solve the lack of technology transfer. The result was to accommodate the diverse capacities of member nations to implement and enforce intellectual property standards, fostering a more inclusive global intellectual property framework through the TRIPS Agreement, and encouraging the flow of knowledge and technological advancements.

Ongoing evaluation is necessary, considering specific cases...